Vance Falsely Blames Democrats for Shutdown as White House Warns of Layoffs

Federal workers face “imminent” layoffs as the U.S. government shutdown enters its first full day, with Vice President JD Vance and the Trump administration blaming Democrats for the crisis while making false claims about their demands.

The shutdown began at midnight after Congress failed to pass a funding measure, forcing approximately 750,000 federal employees into unpaid furlough. Essential workers like military personnel and border agents must continue working without pay, with many likely to miss paychecks next week.

In a rare White House briefing room appearance, Vance warned that layoffs were inevitable if the shutdown continues. “We are going to have to lay some people off. We don’t like that. We don’t necessarily want to do it, but we’re going to do what we have to do to keep the American people’s essential services continuing to run,” he stated.

While Vance denied that workers would be targeted based on political affiliation, he acknowledged uncertainty about who might face furlough or layoffs. “We haven’t made any final decisions about what we’re going to do with certain workers,” he explained. “What we’re saying is that we might have to take extraordinary steps, especially the longer this goes on.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that government agencies are actively preparing for cuts, though she could not provide specific details about timing or the percentage of workers who might be affected.

The shutdown comes amid an intensifying political battle, with Democrats withholding Senate votes on government funding as they demand extended healthcare subsidies for low-income families. This strategy has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans, including Vance, who falsely claimed Democrats were demanding “billions of dollars of funding to healthcare for illegal aliens.”

This assertion is inaccurate. Current U.S. law prohibits undocumented immigrants from receiving the healthcare benefits Democrats are fighting to preserve, and Democrats have not proposed legislation to change this restriction.

House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries countered the Republican narrative, arguing that “Trump and Republicans shut the government down to deny healthcare to working-class Americans.” Jeffries characterized the situation as part of a pattern where “Republicans have consistently shut the government down as part of their efforts to try to extract and jam their extreme rightwing agenda down the throats of the American people.”

In a move that has further intensified partisan tensions, the White House has begun targeting Democratic-leaning states by pausing or canceling infrastructure funds. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced that approximately $18 billion for New York City infrastructure projects had been put on hold and nearly $8 billion in clean energy funding was being canceled.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jeffries responded with a joint statement accusing Trump of “treating working people as collateral damage in his endless campaign of chaos and revenge.”

Government shutdowns occur periodically during periods of political gridlock in Washington, though this is the first since a record 35-day shutdown during Trump’s first term in 2018-19. The current impasse has been marked by unusually bitter rhetoric, including Trump posting videos mocking Democratic leaders with AI-generated imagery that Jeffries has denounced as racist.

Efforts to quickly end the shutdown collapsed on Wednesday when Senate Democrats refused to support a Republican bill that would have temporarily reopened the government for several weeks without addressing their healthcare concerns.

While Congress took Thursday off for Yom Kippur, the Senate is scheduled to reconvene Friday and may work through the weekend. The House is not expected to return until next week, prolonging the crisis.

A recent Marist poll found that 38% of voters would blame congressional Republicans for the shutdown, 27% would blame Democrats, and 31% would hold both parties responsible.